Help a newbie out....Sharpie pens.

[Scott]

Ok, Bob, Henry and others are using Sharpie pens for several things like taillights, window blackout, etc. Are there special translucent pens? What do I buy for the different uses? Oh, and what do I use for the panel lines?

[Matt Wadlinger]

They have packs of sharpies in assorted colors, pick up one of those. The red and yellow or orange are transparent if you use them on clear parts, and work best if you back the lens or lens bucket with BMF. I prefer tamiya clear red and orange though. It may take several applications to get the hue you want though, apply it let it dry, and apply another coat until its even.

The one I tend to use a lot is the silver one. You have to buy it separately. It's good for touching up chrome where you cut it off of the tree, and for dabbing on parts of BMF that may need a tiny touch up here and there. It works best on aluminum BMF more so than chrome though.

[Zoom Zoom]

I use my Tamiya clear red/orange/yellow a lot less now because I prefer the Sharpie to tint most lenses. Yes it requires more than one pass, but it dries almost instantly and there isn't any thickness to the film. As for amber it's a bit tricky; orange Sharpies are almost too red, so I mix using yellow and orange to make amber lenses. I always found that using Tamiya paint also requires multiple passes/coats, and you have to let it dry between coats, which is time-consuming if you're not using a dehydrator. Sharpies let you tint and go w/o any real drying time.

The black Sharpies are good for outlining glass and headlight/taillight lenses. The big version w/two tips is a good one to get, the chisel point works best for doing window masks. I also have to make sevaral passes to make it opaque enough. Sometimes I'll back it w/a quick pass of acrylic flat black to make it really opaque, but not having to go up to the edge so it's quick and the edges are clean.

Pigma Micron .005" black pens are what I use for doing black panel lines and some other details like grille/wheel texture in place of a black wash. I sandwich it between color coats to get a darker hue than the color for the final panel line appearance, it's easier than a wash of paint but not always foolproof if the paint itself isn't completely uniform on the final coats...aka it's easier to get it right when airbrushing than using spray bombs, especially Testors lacquers that have a lot of pigment.